E.K Hornbeck is the most complicated and unusual character in Inherit the Wind because he speaks in poetic verse. His lines are not only arranged with poetic line breaks, but they are laced with poetic language. Metaphors (comparisons between two unlike things) and allusions (references to biblical, historical or literary subjects) are used throughout and can make his point a bit difficult to understand.
Task: Create a hyperlink for the asides (underlined text) that defines each to help explain his meaning.
Explain what Hornbeck is saying in the bolded lines. After each line you will see an "explanation link" click on that link and use the "edit this page" tab to write an explanation of these poetic lines.
Answer these questions in your post: What comparison is he making?What point is he making through this comparison?
Make sure to check this page TONIGHT for homework. Read the explanations and be prepared for a quiz TOMORROW!
Hornbeck (pp 28-29): I'm inspecting the battlefield
The night before the battle. Before it's cluttered
With the debris of journalistic camp-followers
I'm scouting myself an observation post
To watch the Fray
Wait. Why do you want to see Bert Cates?
What's he to you, or you to him?
Can it be that both beauty and biology
Are on our side?
There's a newspaper here I'd like to have you see.It just arrived
From that wicked modern Sodom and Gomorrah,
Cleveland!
(Hornbeck eating an apple)... Have a bite?
Don't worry, I'm not the serpent, Little Eva.
This isn't the Tree of Knowledge.
You won't find one in the orchards of Heavenly Hillsboro.
Birches, beeches, butternuts. A few ignorance bushes.
No Tree of Knowledge.
PolesEquator Temperate Zones hinterland, great unwashed There's a highway through the backwoods now,
And the trees of the forest have reluctantly made room for
Their leafless cousins, the telephone poles. Henry's Lizzie rattles into town
And leaves behind
The Yesterday-Messiah,
Standing in the road alone
In a cloud of flivver dust.
The boob has been de-boobed.
Colonel Brady's virginal small-towner
Has been had-
By Marconi andMontgomery Ward.
E.K. Hornbeck
E.K Hornbeck is the most complicated and unusual character in Inherit the Wind because he speaks in poetic verse. His lines are not only arranged with poetic line breaks, but they are laced with poetic language. Metaphors (comparisons between two unlike things) and allusions (references to biblical, historical or literary subjects) are used throughout and can make his point a bit difficult to understand.
Make sure to check this page TONIGHT for homework. Read the explanations and be prepared for a quiz TOMORROW!
Hornbeck (pp 28-29):
I'm inspecting the battlefield
The night before the battle. Before it's cluttered
With the debris of journalistic camp-followers
I'm scouting myself an observation post
To watch the Fray
Wait. Why do you want to see Bert Cates?
What's he to you, or you to him?
Can it be that both beauty and biology
Are on our side?
There's a newspaper here I'd like to have you see.It just arrived
From that wicked modern Sodom and Gomorrah,
Cleveland!
- explanation 2-4 6
sweet, sad song about the Hillsboro heretic,B. Cates: boy-Socrates, latter-day Dreyfus,
Romeo with a biology book
- explanation 3-4 6
I may be rancid butter,But I'm on your side of the bread.
(Hornbeck eating an apple)... Have a bite?
Don't worry, I'm not the serpent, Little Eva.
This isn't the Tree of Knowledge.
You won't find one in the orchards of Heavenly Hillsboro.
Birches, beeches, butternuts. A few ignorance bushes.
No Tree of Knowledge.
PolesEquator
Temperate Zones
hinterland,
great unwashed
There's a highway through the backwoods now,
And the trees of the forest have reluctantly made room for
Their leafless cousins, the telephone poles.
Henry's Lizzie rattles into town
And leaves behind
The Yesterday-Messiah,
Standing in the road alone
In a cloud of flivver dust.
The boob has been de-boobed.
Colonel Brady's virginal small-towner
Has been had-
By Marconi andMontgomery Ward.